Something has come up with the property Property problems Find the one you are dealing with, and start from what was known when you bought.

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What has come up?

These are the problems that most often surface years after a purchase, when a buyer’s survey, a buyer’s solicitor or a remortgage valuation looks at the property properly for the first time since you bought it.

Japanese knotweed It spreads, it is hard to be rid of, and it can be treated. Satisfying a buyer’s lender is the harder part. Read → No right of access Access to the property over a drive, path or track, and no document says you are entitled to. Read → Easements and service rights Your drains, pipes or cables run across land you do not own, without a recorded right to be there. Read → Short lease Your lease is short and you had not realised the implications. Extending is possible, but the shorter it gets the more it costs. Read → Planning permission Work was done to the property and nobody obtained permission for it. Now a buyer’s solicitor is asking. Read → Building regulations The extension or the conversion was never signed off. Nobody minded until you came to sell or remortgage. Read → Flying freehold Part of your home sits over, or under, someone else’s property. Who repairs it, and who pays? Read → Ground rent The ground rent rises sharply, or doubles at intervals. Modest now, but buyers and lenders have done the arithmetic for the years ahead. Read → Missing or absent freeholder You need the freeholder’s consent, or paperwork only they can give, and nobody answers. Everything waits. Read → Estate rentcharge An annual charge towards the estate’s roads and open spaces, with remedies in the deed if it goes unpaid. Lenders take issue. Read → Freehold flat You own your flat freehold rather than by lease. It sounds like the better arrangement, but it can be difficult to sell. Read → Flood risk The property has flooded, or the maps say it could. Insurance, lenders and buyers all react to that. Read → Defective lease There is a gap or a mistake in the lease, over repairs, insurance or service charge, and it needs putting right. Read → Boundary problems The fence is not where the plan says it is. That matters far more when you sell or refinance than while you live there. Read → Restrictive covenants An old deed limits what can be done with the land, or the full wording may be missing. Read → Covenant breach Something at the property breaks an old rule in the deeds: an extension, a business, a caravan, a change of use. Read → Possessory title Your title is registered, but ownership is not guaranteed outright. Someone with a better claim could still come forward. Read → Service charges The service charge is high, or a major works bill is coming. A buyer and lender will want to know how much, and when. Read → Chancel repair liability An old parish obligation towards repairing the local church chancel, attached to the land rather than to you. Read → Cladding and building safety The external walls of the building need assessing, and the paperwork decides whether the flat can be sold. Read → Contaminated land The land was used for something industrial before your house stood on it. Who investigates, and who pays? Read → Deed of variation The lease has to be formally changed, and that takes the freeholder, sometimes a lender, and time you may not have. Read → Lease restrictions The lease says you need consent to sell, to mortgage or to let, and somebody has to give it. Read → Something else Contaminated land, mines and minerals, solar panel roof leases, listed buildings, shared ownership. Tell us →

If unsure

Not sure which one it is?

Problems often arrive described in someone else’s words — a buyer’s solicitor’s enquiry, a valuer’s note, a lender’s condition — and it is not always obvious which of these it belongs to. More than one may apply at once.

You do not need to work that out before speaking to us. Tell us what has come up and when you bought, and we will talk it through.

Tell us what happened — arrange a call A conversation first. Usually about twenty minutes.